DRINKING WATER
4 Essential Truths About Carbon Reactivation
Long-standing myths about GAC reactivation are being increasingly challenged, revealing performance, cost, and sustainability benefits many utilities may have overlooked.
DRINKING WATER CASE STUDIES AND WHITE PAPERS
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![2021-Swan-Application-Notes---Panels-2]( "Custom Water Panel Answers Multiple Water Questions")
Custom Water Panel Answers Multiple Water QuestionsA mid-size water system in the southeast was looking to pull together multiple measurements in a single panel. After reviewing off-the-shelf solutions, they realized there was nothing that met their requirements.
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![GettyImages-2195684944 data center]( "Keep Your Cool: The Importance Of Advanced Side Stream Filtration In Data Center Operation")
Keep Your Cool: The Importance Of Advanced Side Stream Filtration In Data Center OperationAdvanced side stream filtration protects sensitive cooling infrastructure in data centers, extending membrane life, reducing water and energy use, and preventing costly downtime caused by particulate-loaded cooling water.
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![gettyimages-1299103629-170667a]( "Top Cybersecurity Trends Driving Digital Transformation For Water Utilities")
Top Cybersecurity Trends Driving Digital Transformation For Water UtilitiesCybersecurity continues to grow as a critical initiative for water utilities, with certain trends helping to drive and even accelerate digital transformation.
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![GettyImages-1364760615]( "Turbidity, What It Is And How It's Successfully Mitigated")
Turbidity, What It Is And How It's Successfully MitigatedThis article will clarify the essential aspects of turbidity, how it can affect human health, and how best to measure and mitigate it.
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50+ Years With Neptune And Building On A Decade of R900 Technology
The Public Works Utilities of Billings, Montana, began their partnership with Neptune Technology back in the 1950s and was an early adopter of Neptune’s ARB® absolute encoder meter reading technology in the 1960s.
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![fire hydrant.jpg]( "Is Your Water System Trying to Tell You Something?")
Is Your Water System Trying to Tell You Something?When something goes wrong, we often ask ourselves if there was some sort of sign that would have lessened the impact. Especially if you are in the business of providing water to people, you might wish you had a crystal ball to get in front of problems before they happen. While we can’t provide you with a crystal ball, we can help give some insight into what your water system may be telling you with the introduction of the AFC SEMPER Remote Pressure Monitor.
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Encore® 700 Chemical Metering Pumps Provide SNWA With A Decade Of Flawless Service At River Mountains
Built in 2002, Southern Nevada Water Authority’s (SNWA) River Mountains Water Treatment Facility is a state-of-the art water treatment facility that delivers 300 million gallons per day and was designed to be expanded to deliver up to 600 million gallons per day of treated water in the future.
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![Benefits_Of_Asset_Mgmt_iStock-967487804.jpg]( "Reaping The Benefits Of Proactive Asset Management")
Reaping The Benefits Of Proactive Asset ManagementThe more a water distribution or wastewater collection operation knows about its infrastructure, the better equipped it is to optimize performance, maximize asset life, and prioritize long-term capital investment. Here is a breakdown of enterprise asset management (EAM) opportunities and the advantages they offer — from more timely data collection, to more in-depth cost analysis, to more cost-effective decision-making.
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Gandia Becomes A Smart Water City And Saves 0.5hm3 Of Water/Year
In 2008, the utility providing this Spanish city’s water supply and the city council decided to phase in a gradual process of digital transformation.
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KETOS Provides Real-Time Lab Accurate Results For Effluent Water
A leading provider of water and wastewater treatment solution for industrial, municipal, and recreational customers faced a number of issues with the safe treatment and disposal of coal ash and residual ash in ponds. Frequent testing at multiple locations was needed to ensure water safety and compliance.
DRINKING WATER APPLICATION NOTES
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Deployment Of NextStep In Reverse Osmosis Systems1/15/2026
Pulsafeeder has secured a significant order for its NextStep series of stepper motor-driven metering pumps, specifically for use in advanced Reverse Osmosis (RO) applications. This deployment underscores the growing demand for precision chemical dosing in high-performance water treatment systems. The order includes NextStep NS1 and NS9 models, each selected for their unique capabilities in high-pressure and low-pressure RO environments.
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HOD™ (Hydro-Optic Disinfection) UV Water Treatment For Bottled Water3/27/2025
The HOD™ (Hydro-Optic Disinfection) UV water treatment system by Atlantium Technologies represents a groundbreaking advancement in drinking water disinfection, particularly for the bottled water industry.
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Ultrasonic Level Measurement In Water And Wastewater Plants5/19/2016
Radar technology is often viewed as the “best” method of level measurement, but this isn’t necessarily true in the water industry.
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Application Note: Water Flows From The Golden Hills Of California1/20/2010Each morning John Johnson drives the few miles from his smalltown home in northern California to the Center at Pardee Reservoir. Nestled among the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, the reservoir is a long 100 miles away from San Francisco Bay. By YSI
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Improved Efficiencies In TOC Wastewater Analysis For Standard Method 5310B And EPA Method 41510/16/2014Total organic carbon (TOC) measurement is of vital importance to the operation of water treatment due to organic compounds comprising a large group of water pollutants. TOC has been around for many years, and although it is a relatively simple analysis in theory, operational efficiency is paramount.
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Reduced Bore Electromagnetic Flowmeter10/29/2021
Being able to accurately measure both the quantity and rate of water passing through a water distribution system is crucial to gain an informed understanding of overall efficiency. As such, achieving a measurement that is exact as possible can have a significant impact on key areas. This includes supply planning, maintenance, resource deployment, leakage detection and the overall environment.
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Determination Of Pesticide Residues In Honey, By An Automated QuEChERS Solution9/17/2014
The QuEChERS (Quick-Easy-Cheap-Effective-Rugged-Safe) sample extraction method was developed for the determination of pesticide residues in agricultural commodities.
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Determination Of Hexanal In Foods Utilizing Dynamic Headspace4/9/2015
Hexanal is one of many well-documented aromatic components that contribute to flavor and aroma in common consumer food products containing omega-6 fatty acids. Hexanal content is also used to measure the oxidative status of foods rich in omega-6 fatty acids.
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Protecting Pumps From Dead Head Conditions4/6/2017
The C445 motor management relay offers the most configurable protection options in the industry, with features specifically designed to protect critical pumps from costly damages due to dead-head and other underloaded or starved pump conditions.
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Panametrics Technology Helps Track Potable Water Leaks4/22/2022
Concerned about the volume of water leakages throughout their network, a Swedish water authority turned to Panametrics flowmeters to map their municipal water network -- enabling quick leak identification and fixes.
DRINKING WATER PRODUCTS
The PTBT1 is a lab-accurate water quality pocket tester that allows you to use your mobile device and the X2 app to measure, store and export data.
The Series 1100TDM Tandem MEGALUG restrain ductile iron pipe to mechanical joint fittings, pipe and appurtenances that require high PSI ratings. It consists of one Series 1100 MEGALUG and one Series 1100 MEGALUG with the MJ lip removed as to sit properly behind the first.
The Series 1420 CHLOR-A-VAC® affords high efficiency addition and mixing of gases and liquid chemicals resulting in substantial chemical cost savings.
The PT6 is a rugged, lab-accurate water quality pocket tester with simple, one-button functionality.
The AMERICAN Series 2500 Ductile Iron Resilient Wedge Gate Valve is available with ALPHA ends in sizes 4” -12”. The valve is designed for use in drinking water, sewage and fire protection systems as well as irrigation and backflow control systems.
The TrojanUVFlex is designed with features to make installation and operation simpler, faster, and more cost-effective than ever before. Built on the proven TrojanUV Solo Lamp Technology platform, TrojanUVFlex allows for energy-efficient high-intensity delivery of UV light in an extremely compact footprint.
LATEST INSIGHTS ON DRINKING WATER
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![Reservoir spillway dumping overflow-GettyImages-2152233125]( "Applying Two Flood Models To Cross-Check And Improve Each Other — And Maybe Saving A Downstream Village In The Process")
Getting a second opinion is a time-tested piece of wisdom. During a recent project for a municipal water supply utility, we found that this advice also applies to modeling the effects storms have on the municipality’s reservoirs and dams, and the potential flooding impacts downstream of the dams.
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![Research, probing, monitoring atmosphere-GettyImages-987881424]( "How Satellite IoT Can Enhance Remote Water System Monitoring")
There is a noticeable shift in how monitoring data is being treated across the water sector. It is no longer something that sits quietly in the background of operations, collected for compliance, and reviewed periodically. It is being examined more closely, and more often, by a wider set of stakeholders.
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![ozone production]( "Mass Transfer Efficiency: The Most Important Metric In Ozone System Design")
Ozone output doesn’t guarantee performance. Learn how mass transfer efficiency determines how much ozone dissolves, drives treatment results, and impacts energy use and system design.
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![Cahaba River-GettyImages-2152826831]( "What Is The Future Of Source Water Protection?")
Water utility managers and municipal leaders have long struggled amid the convergence of several threats to public water supplies. During a recent Water Online Live event, I sat with a panel of industry experts to examine the transition from reactive crisis management to a proactive, adaptive resilience framework. -
![Bacteria, Medical research, healthcare-GettyImages-2161239007]( "The Hidden Legionella Risk In Closed-Loop Systems")
For a long time, it’s been assumed that closed-loop water systems — those commonly found in building heating systems, air-conditioning units, and cooling systems — are at a low risk for Legionella. However, there are many reasons why closed-loop systems can actually inadvertently promote the risk of Legionella. -
![Avoid pitfall Planning, obstacle avoidance-GettyImages-2167644498]( "Common AMI Implementation Mistakes And How To Avoid Them")
The journey from manual water-meter reads to a fully integrated digital ecosystem is long and complex. To help utilities along, the Smart Water Networks Forum (SWAN) released the global Smart Metering Playbook, which includes both implementation best practices and common pitfalls. Here are five common advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) rollout mistakes from the Playbook, along with examples of how to overcome them.
DRINKING WATER VIDEOS
Why have only 20% of water utilities deployed an AMI fixed network? If you are considering a fixed network, I've got something you seriously need to consider prior to soliciting quotations or putting out your RFP. The question is, who is going to manage the network infrastructure? Do you have qualified individuals within your utility ready to continuously monitor, maintain and manage the network? In this video, we're going to discuss some of the options available for water utilities today: a utility managed network versus a network as a service agreement (NaaS).
Appearing on The Weather Channel's "Wake Up With Al" morning show, water expert Dan Theobald puts drinking water to the test by measuring total dissolved solids (TDS) in tap water samples from Brooklyn, Manhattan, and New Jersey, as well as bottled water samples.
In this episode of The Water Online Show: On Location, our guest is Mike Blackburn from Hach. Mike dives into the benefits of panel-mounted solutions for water quality monitoring.
ABOUT DRINKING WATER
In most developed countries, drinking water is regulated to ensure that it meets drinking water quality standards. In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administers these standards under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).
Drinking water considerations can be divided into three core areas of concern:
- Source water for a community’s drinking water supply
- Drinking water treatment of source water
- Distribution of treated drinking water to consumers
Drinking Water Sources
Source water access is imperative to human survival. Sources may include groundwater from aquifers, surface water from rivers and streams and seawater through a desalination process. Direct or indirect water reuse is also growing in popularity in communities with limited access to sources of traditional surface or groundwater.
Source water scarcity is a growing concern as populations grow and move to warmer, less aqueous climates; climatic changes take place and industrial and agricultural processes compete with the public’s need for water. The scarcity of water supply and water conservation are major focuses of the American Water Works Association.
Drinking Water Treatment
Drinking Water Treatment involves the removal of pathogens and other contaminants from source water in order to make it safe for humans to consume. Treatment of public drinking water is mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. Common examples of contaminants that need to be treated and removed from water before it is considered potable are microorganisms, disinfectants, disinfection byproducts, inorganic chemicals, organic chemicals and radionuclides.
There are a variety of technologies and processes that can be used for contaminant removal and the removal of pathogens to decontaminate or treat water in a drinking water treatment plant before the clean water is pumped into the water distribution system for consumption.
The first stage in treating drinking water is often called pretreatment and involves screens to remove large debris and objects from the water supply. Aeration can also be used in the pretreatment phase. By mixing air and water, unwanted gases and minerals are removed and the water improves in color, taste and odor.
The second stage in the drinking water treatment process involves coagulation and flocculation. A coagulating agent is added to the water which causes suspended particles to stick together into clumps of material called floc. In sedimentation basins, the heavier floc separates from the water supply and sinks to form sludge, allowing the less turbid water to continue through the process.
During the filtration stage, smaller particles not removed by flocculation are removed from the treated water by running the water through a series of filters. Filter media can include sand, granulated carbon or manufactured membranes. Filtration using reverse osmosis membranes is a critical component of removing salt particles where desalination is being used to treat brackish water or seawater into drinking water.
Following filtration, the water is disinfected to kill or disable any microbes or viruses that could make the consumer sick. The most traditional disinfection method for treating drinking water uses chlorine or chloramines. However, new drinking water disinfection methods are constantly coming to market. Two disinfection methods that have been gaining traction use ozone and ultra-violet (UV) light to disinfect the water supply.
Drinking Water Distribution
Drinking water distribution involves the management of flow of the treated water to the consumer. By some estimates, up to 30% of treated water fails to reach the consumer. This water, often called non-revenue water, escapes from the distribution system through leaks in pipelines and joints, and in extreme cases through water main breaks.
A public water authority manages drinking water distribution through a network of pipes, pumps and valves and monitors that flow using flow, level and pressure measurement sensors and equipment.
Water meters and metering systems such as automatic meter reading (AMR) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) allows a water utility to assess a consumer’s water use and charge them for the correct amount of water they have consumed.